From milkshake hoax to topless clown, it was a bizarre year

Kynan Kreidel talks about his wife's struggle with Lyme disease and how it can lead to manic episodes following her arrest for chasing cars while dressed as a clown and partially clothed. The family is dressed as clowns on Halloween
Stephanie Ingersoll/The Leaf-Chronicle

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Candice and Kynan Kreidel talk about how her Lyme disease and mental problems have taken a toll shortly after her arrest in October.(Photo: Stephanie Ingersoll / The Leaf-Chronicle)Buy Photo

The Leaf-Chronicle story went viral and was picked up by websites all over the country.

But the story that came after was even more interesting.

Kreidel and her husband talked frankly about how mental illness related to Lyme disease played a part in her actions in hopes of bringing attention to the struggles they face getting her proper treatment.

Josh Raby's story about going to McDonald's for a milkshake only to encounter a kooky couple — including a "missing" wife who wasn't missing at all — and an unrelenting offer of apple pies sounded too bizarre to be true.

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Josh Raby's story about a strange late-night visit to a Clarksville McDonald's went viral after he live tweeted the experience.(Photo: Ayrika Whitney / The Leaf-Chronicle)

But Raby wasn't about to let the facts get in the way of a good story.

He insists he did go through a McDonald's drive-thru for a late night milkshake on April 12 and he met an interesting couple who worked there. But as for their bizarre actions and comments, which he Tweeted to the delight of thousands of new followers as his story went viral? Well, Raby later admitted he "made writerly choices" in telling the story.

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Josh Raby's late night experience at a Clarksville McDonald's is going viral after he live Tweeted the visit.
Ayrika Whitney/The Leaf-Chronicle

"If you are wondering what I'm getting at, this is gonna be the part of the viral story where the person tells you they made a lot of it up," Raby tweeted.

Raby, who lives in Clarksville, didn't get in trouble, though local McDonald's owner Mabel Larson's asserted that "he sounds like a yo-yo idiot person."

Instead he was rewarded with the ultimate McDonald's experience, which included getting a limousine ride through the drive-thru for a milkshake.

Repo man wins and loses

A repo man might have won a 13-hour standoff with a customer who refused to get out of her car so it couldn't be towed, but in the end he lost his job.

It took 13 hours, but eventually a woman gave up and got out of her vehicle so it could be repossessed.(Photo: Submitted)

More than 100 people gathered June 18 in the parking lot of a UPS Store on Wilma Rudolph Boulevard to watch a woman sit in her car to try to prevent it from being repossessed.

The situation started about 10:30 a.m. after a repossession agent arrived with a tow truck to repossess a black Mercedes. The driver of the truck assumed the woman had gone into the store to pick up a package when he hooked up the car to the tow truck.

The woman, however, was still inside the vehicle and refused to leave, telling repo workers it was on the advice of an attorney.

A post in a local Facebook group called Clarksville Chat drew people to the store. The initial post drew more than 500 comments, and more threads popped up once the attention grew.

A man, said to be the woman's husband, was seen bringing her food during the standoff. She also was seen urinating in a cup and pouring it out the window.

The man also brought her cans of gas so she could leave the car running to use the air conditioning.

The standoff ended at about midnight when people were asked to leave so the woman could clean out her car and her belongings without people photographing and recording her.